for ever," then David must never have died, and no other kings could ever have reigned upon the throne of the Lord that he sat and reigned upon, but himself. All difficulty disappears, however, when it is understood that David's name covers his posterity, the same as Judah's name covers his posterity. David said, "He hath chosen Judah to be the ruler," not Judah personally, but persons from among his posterity; Judah was the royal tribe, and David's house was the royal house; and as the name Judah, covers the children of Judah, so David's name covers the children of David; and therefore David will reign so long as his posterity reigns upon his throne.

There will therefore be two thrones in Mount Zion in the latter days, as there were in the days of old,— a visible, and an invisible throne. Christ the Lord will reign in the Holy of Holies in the Temple on Mount Zion in the sides of the north; while kings in the flesh of David's house will reign outside of the Temple on the throne of the Lord on Mount Zion, as of old; and Christ the Lord will raise up kings in David's house like David himself, kings after his own heart, which shall fulfill all his will, as was said of David. These kings being mortal men will reign literally, personally, and visibly on David's throne, and will go out and in before, and with the people, as aforetime, and so it is said. “But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth by way of the north gate to worship, shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate; he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it." And now observe what is further said, “And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth" (Ezek. 46:9-10). Again it is said concerning the prince, that on the day of the passover he shall prepare for himself, and for all the people of the land, a bullock, for a sin offering. Again, during seven days of the feast, he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord,- seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish, daily for seven days, for a sin offering. Now some are so poorly instructed in the holy scriptures as to suppose that this prince who prepares for himself and all the people of the land these offerings is Christ the Lord, as though he was still compassed with infirmity, whereas this prince is a mortal man of the house of David.

THE MANNER OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The righteous having been made perfect by resurrection, or translation, or "having been born of the Spirit," will, as Jesus said, be as the wind,"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3). That is, every person who is born of the spirit is like the wind in these respects; as the wind bloweth where it listeth, and no man can tell from whence it cometh, or whither it goeth, so are the saints of God who are born of the Spirit into life eternal; they come and speak to a person, and then suddenly depart again, and no man can tell from whence they come, nor whither they go, because, as Jesus said to the Sadducees, "In the resurrection they are as the angels of God in heaven." Now by considering what obtains with the angels, one may come to under

stand the correct meaning of Christ's words to Nicodemus, as quoted above. The angel of the Lord who appeared to Abraham, as narrated in Genesis (chapter 17:7), after speaking with him, ascended from his presence and went his way, and Abraham could not tell from whence he came, nor whither he went. Again, the Lord or the Angel who bore the name of the Lord, appeared to Jacob (Gen. 35:9-15) and gave him the blessing of Abraham and Isaac, saying, “And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it." And then take notice, for it is added, “And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him." He came as the wind, and went as the wind, and Jacob could neither tell from whence he came, nor whither he went. One instance more will suffice to illustrate the manner of those who are born of the spirit.

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and his wife, the subsequent parents of Samson, to give instructions touching this remarkable child who was to be one of the judges of Israel, it is said that when Manoah offered a sacrifice according to his directions, upon a rock, then the angel of the Lord did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on, for it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar (Judges 13). Now a word to the wise is sufficient: here is the manner of the angels of God in the past, and here is the manner of the saints of God in the resurrection when they are made as the angels.

The reign of Christ and his brethren, therefore, will be an angelic and an invisible reign over men in the flesh in the ages to come. They will come and go in the administration of human affairs like the wind, and will appear and disappear according to their pleasure in carrying out God's purposes in the earth. Not that they are invisible in and of themselves, for they will be material beings, but they are invisible in the sense that they have, in that day, powers like the angels of God to cut off human vision, so that the children of the earth could not see them, though they walked in their midst. Jesus had power to hide himself from the eyes of men and from the observation of his enemies. This was done by the power of the Spirit, even in the days of his sojourn in the flesh (Luke 24: 29-30). After he rose from the dead, he walked with two disciples to Emmaus, And their eyes were holden that they knew him not "; but when he sat down with them at meat, and when he "took bread and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them," then "their eyes were opened and he vanished out of their sight,"- or as the marginal reading more correctly has it, "he ceased to be seen of them" (Luke 24). And so also when Jesus came in suddenly, the doors being closed, his disciples were terrified and affrighted, for they saw him not until he suddenly appeared in their midst.

An illustration of the power of God to hide persons from the sight and power of others, is found in the Book of Jeremiah, where it is said (36:26), "But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord hid them." Again, there will be a people in the latter days who will be hid from the power of the enemy in the day of the Lord's anger, as it is written (Zeph. 2:3), "Seek ye the Lord,

all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Thus God by the power of his Spirit is able to hide a man, or a number of men, or an army from the sight of men, and from the power of the enemy. He who made the eye, has power to cut off the power of the eye, and to restrict its vision, and he has the ability to give this power to others. This power Christ possessed and the angels of God possess it and the righteous when born of the spirit by resurrection from the dead will possess it even as Jesus taught Nicodemus.

CHAPTER VII

THE DEVIL AND SATAN

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Scriptural view of what constitutes the Devil and Satan"— The Devil as a God-As "Prince of this world"- Cast out by Christ The Devil as a Father-Adam's nature before and after fall-Things charged up against the Devil - Are diseases called devils? The man that had devils

and abode in the tombs - Parable of the unclean spirit - Temptation of Christ-Temptation of Job - Transformation of Satan — Angels of light — Knowledge of good and evil - Concerning "the angels that sinned"— Contention between Michael the archangel and the Devil, about the body of Moses.

Before speaking of the gospel of the kingdom of God, and the obedience of faith, we will consider the teachings of the Scriptures concerning the Devil and Satan, under the heading,

THE SCRIPTURE VIEW OF THE DEVIL AND SATAN

We have said before that those who look at things of a scriptural character through immortal soul spectacles, see a spurious God, a spurious Christ, a spurious man, and a spurious Devil. In none of those things is the darkness of the religious world more apparent and conspicuous than in their erroneous views of what constitutes the Devil and Satan as he is brought to view in the Holy Scriptures. It is commonly held and taught by religious teachers that the Devil is an individual person of extraordinary power, that he was once an angel of light in heaven, but that he and his associates rebelled and were cast out of heaven, and that now he goes about as a roaring lion in the earth seeking whom he may devour. But we will now endeavor to show a scriptural, consistent, and correct view of this important question as brought to view in the Holy Scriptures. To understand this doctrine aright in all the various forms in which it is presented in the Scriptures requires that we begin at the root of the matter.

The Apostle James writes, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (Jas. 1:13-15). This is an inspired authority and is a graphic statement of the origin of evil, and the course and end of sin. According to this authority, it originates not with God, nor does it arise from the incitations of a person outside of the human family called the Devil, but it has its origin solely in the carnal hearts of the children of men; and therefore the Lord says by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;

who can know it? I the Lord search the heart." Now he who searches the heart informs us that it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and he makes no exceptions, so that if it is to be admitted that there is a personal Devil, this shows that he is not equal to the hearts of men for deceit and wickedness, and therefore of what need, or of what use could he be?

Every human being, therefore, has a devil in his own heart, and in the aggregate it is a power of sufficient malignity to account for all the evil work that has ever been, or ever will be done in the earth. This principle of evil exists in our mortal flesh: it may be controlled and kept under by means of the guidance and teachings of the word of God, but it cannot be extinguished while we live on the earth. On the part of the righteous, when this mortal shall put on immortality, the principle of sin and death in the body will be destroyed, insomuch that the desires of the immortal body will be in harmony with the spirit of God. Paul speaks wisely, specifically, and instructively on this subject; this principle of evil which exists in all men, he calls, "The law of sin in our members." And no man can do better than to study carefully his excellent treatise on this subject (Rom. 7:5-25). He says, "I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Lust in the flesh is sin in the flesh because lust is forbidden by the law which says, "Thou shalt not covet." Thus the law of God strikes at the very root of sin and forbids the operations of the desires of the flesh and of the mind. The lust of the flesh of itself is blind and regards no law, but says continually, "Give, Give." The Apostle saith in another place (Gal. 5: 17), "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Lust is like water, which when set free always descends, so lust blindly pushes on for the gratification of its own desires; therefore Paul says, "I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection, lest while I preach to others, I myself become a castaway." Nevertheless, referring to the operations of the natural law of sin, or lust in our members, he says (Rom. 7: 14), "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, for that which I do. I allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law, that it is good. Now it is no more I that do it, but sin or lust that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Then Paul exclaims, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And adds, "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

Some persons, not understanding the law of sin in the flesh, have erroneously supposed that Paul was here describing his condition before he was converted.